His Hidden Warrior Queen

I'd spent two hours getting ready.Two hours of standing in front of my mirror in a dress — a fitted black thing with thin straps that I kept tugging at because the neckline felt too low.Tonight was different. Tonight, Max and I were supposed to become chosen mates. I'd come early to surprise him.I walked to his house with my heart hammering. I practiced my smile the entire way.I had this stupid little fantasy: I'd knock, he'd open the door, and his jaw would drop. He'd never seen me look like a girl before.The sounds hit me three feet from the door. A rhythmic creak. A breathy moan.And then a laugh I'd been hearing since the day I was born.Stephanie.My hand froze on the doorknob. Everything inside me went cold, starting at the scalp and draining straight down through my feet."Goddess, Max — don't stop." Stephanie's voice, breathy and theatrical. Then a laugh. "I bet she doesn't even know how to do this. Your little tomboy girlfriend — does she even own a skirt?"My jaw locked.

Stephanie's rage filled the entire house."Cancelled!" She slammed her clutch onto the hallway table so hard the vase rattled."The entire banquet, cancelled! The Crown Prince found his fated mate."Father caught her wrist before she could throw a plate. "Stephanie, sit down—"“He didn’t even want a mate,” Stephanie wailed, “Everybody knows that!”It was true. Kai focused on military efforts…which was the only reason their King hadn’t declared his younger son, Niko, as his heir. The King wasn’t overly fond of his first son, preferring his children from his second marriage.But, now, it seemed like whoever was Kai’s Fated Mate was guaranteed to become the future Luna.It was fascinating seeing my sister so envious. Stephanie had always been so self-assured, to the point of arrogance, but she truly was green with jealousy.Wisely, I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t need her to turn all of that wrath on me.…The next day, after Stephanie flounced off to lick her imagined wounds with

Vincent took the rest of us on a tour of what would be the Royal Guard recruits’ whole world. The training grounds were state of the art. I couldn’t help but imagine what I could do with some of these resources.“This space is open 24/7, so when you want to work out, you can,” Vincent told them. “You’ll have a locker space with your name on it by the end of the week.”Next, he walked us through the dormitory where we would all live. The men’s side was large, but they were four to a room. The women’s side was much quieter, and we would only have one roommate a piece.The dining hall was the last piece of our little world. It was grey walls and grey tables with benches. Utilitarian to the core.It was a step down from where I had lived my entire life, but my heart had never felt so light…except the part where I was going to be hiding my Mark from a roommate for the foreseeable future.But that was future-Melinda’s problem.“The last place we’re going to see is the palace,” Vincent annou

I was still asleep, but even in my dreams I knew what the day ahead was all about. I was a newcomer here, not untrained but untested. I needed to shine, and any mistake would count against me double, if not triple, because no one knew what I could do. They just saw some she-wolf with weird ideas in her head.So when I woke up, sat up, yawned, and looked to the uniform I had so neatly hung by my wardrobe, my first thought was that I was still asleep and the blaringly obvious stain on the front of the tunic was just part of some nightmare.I stared at it, frowning. Getting out of her own bed, Vera snorted. “You didn’t bother washing your uniform?”I did. It had been pristine when I hung it up last night. I had a feeling that my roommate had something to do with it…but it wasn’t like I had any evidence to support that theory.Grabbing it off the hanger, I took the uniform to the bathroom and scrubbed at the stain. While I did everything I could, Vera got ready around me and left.The st

Melinda POVAfter a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, and fresh fruit, the interns gathered in the hallway leading to the practice field to get their mail. It was passed out only every other day with the understanding that cell phones were permissible for emergencies only. It was an effective way to focus their attention, so of course most of them complained about it, much to my deeply hidden amusement.“My parents have probably written another letter about how they’re bragging about me to all their friends,” a male Beta was telling someone near me. “News of that cut right off the bat is everywhere, and they can be so obnoxious about things.”“Yeah, I’m sure you’re heartbroken at how they brag about you,” his companion, a female Alpha, said in what I assumed was friendly mockery. “It’s almost as bad as when they talk about what an Alpha Prime in the making I am.”“In your dreams,” the Beta grumbled.I made sure to smile and to squash my envy of the easy camaraderie of the t